RIAA Wins Appeal, Music Downloader Owes $675,000

[Speakercone]

See, if we just pirate everything all the time, then the RIAA don't get the funding to keep being dicks.

I don't see how this could possibly backfire.

 

[Callate]

Thrash and bite, oh dinosaur; your age is eclipsed, and you're still going to die. The only question is whether you will be remembered as an oddity and a curiosity, or if your legacy will actually turn your name into an obscenity.

Certainly, you seem to be aiming for the latter.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Trust me, they can and they will. As the guy said above, money talks.

Yeah, I sure wonder how the economic state of the world will look like if several million if not BILLIONS of people (there are a shitload of people with computers who engage in some sort of "illegal" filesharing after all), ALL got slapped with a court order to pay several thousands of dollars to a particular company.

The result you ask? Well pretty much every form of currency in the world would drop in value due to hyperinflation. I have a hard time seeing the governments of the world letting that happen. Even the governments who are naively lenient towards private corporations would whip them back in line if they tried it.

 

[Wicky_42]

I'm curious - did that guy get fined because he downloaded or uploaded? Cos if that fine's for downloading then fuck the RIAA, you can get less punishment looting a shop than that. If it's for uploading then some people need to take a long, had think about how they want copyright law to really work in a digital age, because doing that to a student is barbaric and completely lacking in social context.

Punishment should always be proportional to a crime; I morally disagree with exceptional punishments to individuals to serve as 'disincentives' to others. That's not justice, that's being petulant and immature.

 

[scotth266]

Snip.

In one section of this article you say he was charged with downloading music. In another, you say that he was charged for "sharing 30 songs online" which implies he was the uploader.

For clarification, which thing was he charged for?

 

[Icehearted]

The RIAA isn't making themselves look very good with this case. It's true that Joel broke the law, but sending him into debt for the rest of his life isn't the way to go about earning a reputation.

But money talks, I guess..

Absolutely. Big money and big business are how laws are made, elections are won, and the little guy get's stepped on. Could be worse; I don't doubt the RIAA would rather just see people burned at the stake if it were legally optional.

 

[dickywebster]

Well this seems like a little bit of an overkill...
I actually wouldnt be surprised if the fine is so high to "recoup losses made from the widespread pirating of music" (no thats not a quote just a highlighted section), but they do seem to be trying to squeeze pirates for all they can with this kidna excuse.

BS. The money from the lawsuits is never seen by the artists. Hell, most of the revenues from the CDs are never seen by the artists. Support the band by going to their shows, grabbing their merch there.

Also, for whoever said that he respects the game publishing industry, game developers are notoriously underpaid for what they do. Learn to do basic iPhone programming or Android development, chances are you will get better pay, better work hours and a stable work environment. The industry is quite often abusing the passion these people have for video games.

If anything the game publishing industry is often treating it's developers and programmers probably about as equally as RIAA does its musicians.

yeah my fault for not been clear enough there.
My point was meant to be that thats what the big music companies claim is the reason they chase the pirates with such venom, to recoup losses and it leads to big fines where it can partly to cover the cost of going after the pirates in the first place.
Cause over twenty grand per song is more than a lot of people earn in a year, they have to find someway to justify it, the legal muscle they flex costs money after all.
So they hold up lost money as the reason.
When its a widely considered "fact" that pirating barely hurts the music industry as most of the money tends to come from tours and the like where im told some bands can literally make millions in one day.

And as for the mistreating bit, does it really surprise you to hear that the rich are screwing the workers out of money? While some say this is just captialism, the extent it happens sometimes speaks more of corruption...

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Hurray! Another corporate victory over petty humans!

How the hell did they come up with that insane number? So he downloaded some music and he listened to it without permission. Is that really so bad to justify ruining someone's life? Just take away the music he downloaded or make him pay the amount those songs are actually worth. Punishing him that hard accomplishes nothing. He listened to music, he didn't kill anyone for crying out loud.

 

[Tanis]

So...can't he just file for bankruptcy, shouldn't that get him out of it?

Or maybe I don't understand the law enough?

 

[ddq5]

RIAA = Evil.
If this story isn't enough to convince you, look into their suit against Jammie Thomas, single mother and ruthless Kazaa user. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_v._Thomas] Piracy is bad, yes, but this sort of excessive retribution makes fools out of the vengeful copyright holders. Its purpose is to instill a sense of fear, but its true effects are dissent and distrust among paying customers.

Still, don't copy that floppy.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Dude downloads music over torrent:

30 songs = $675,000

Dude shoplifts 3 albums with songs from store:

30 songs = $100 fine + worth of the CDs

"Justice" my ass

The reason so much is being charged is because he distributed it on the internet, not because he stole it. Hell, if he only did the latter he might have never gotten caught to begin with. In the same vein, if your theoretical dude ripped that music and put it on the internet, he'd be in the same boat as this guy.

Of course, we both know this. That doesn't stop it all from being total bull.

 

[McMullen]

So when you get fined for more money than you're ever likely to have in your life, what happens? Does the IRS garnish your wages forever or what?

And why is it $22,500 per song rather than $1000 or something?

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I know one thing, I'll be seeing all of the record label bosses in hell.

What do they possible get from this? How do they live with themselves? People like this exist?

No man, women, or child deserves to be treated like this. They should be sued for torture, exicuted at the peoples own will. The richest men in the world, a bunch of fucking greedy theives. Why do people even still make music for such tyrants?

 

[The Bandit]

I'm amazed at all the "I don't see the point, they'll never get the money" comments.

It's not about the money. It's about scaring the shit out of everyone else. Trust me, it's working.

 

[Voodoomancer]

Right. Good luck collecting that, RIAA. I'm sure the artists will be happy to get that half a million dollars, that they never would have seen otherwise. And congrats on making yourself look good.

*Sarcasm-induced seizure*

 

[redisforever]

Hell, just charge him the actual store price of the music! What, $30?

 

[hooksashands]

The RIAA are a bunch of bullying assholes, but I'm even more disappointed in the legal system that let's them do this.